10 COVID-19 Cases Today (25 Feb); 2 Are Community Cases

Well, they are back.

As of 12pm today (24 Feb), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed 10 new cases of COVID-19 infection.

8 of the are imported cases while 2 are community cases. MOH will provide more details about the cases tonight.

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 59,900.

Based on yesterday’s figures, the number of new cases in the community has decreased from 6 cases in the week before to 2 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased from 3 cases in the week before to none in the past week.

New COVID-19 Cluster Formed

Of the seven community cases reported yesterday, only one was from the community.

The remaining six cases were all from abroad, and had been placed on stay-home notices or isolated upon their arrival here.

The sole community case is a foreign domestic worker employed by a previous Covid-19 case – the Singapore Airlines cabin crew member.

The 35-year-old Indonesian, along with the stewardess and her husband, have now formed a new COVID-19 cluster.

The domestic worker was first placed on quarantine on 9 Feb, after she was identified as a close contact of her employer.

That day, both her COVID-19 and serological tests came back negative.

Then, last Saturday, the woman developed a cough, but did not report her symptoms to the Ministry of Health (MOH).

When she was tested again on Monday (22 Feb), her result came back positive. She was then conveyed to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

Her serological test result has also come back positive, but MOH stated this is likely to be a recent infection.

She has also tested preliminarily positive for the B117 strain, which is more contagious, and is pending further confirmatory tests, MOH said.

All Three Cases in Cluster Did Not Seek Medical Attention When Sick

Both the SIA stewardess and her husband, as well as their domestic helper, did not report their symptoms nor sought medical attention when ill.

As for the stewardess, her infection was only detected on Sunday (7 Feb) because she was tested as part of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore’s requirements.

Similarly, her husband’s infection was only detected on Sunday (21 Feb) as part of MOH’s protocol to test individuals during quarantine.

So, if routine testing hadn’t been carried out, the coronavirus could have easily found its way to the community.

100 Active Cases

There are currently 18 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 1 is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

82 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19.

29 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

Featured Image: Rajaraman Arumugam / Shutterstock.com (Image is for illustration purpose only)